Subscribe To

Friday, 13 May 2016

Coup in Brazil

INFAMY

I'm
watching, appalled, the infinitely sad, solitary, final (to quote
Chandler) spectacle of a bunch of lowly senatorial hyenas killing 54
million popular votes in Brazil. Major piece coming on RT in the next
few hours.

Brazilian
President Dilma Rousseff has promised to use all legal means to fight
a “fraudulent” impeachment process, stating that when an elected
leader is hunted over accusations of a crime they did not commit the
proper term for it would be a “coup.”

“I
may have made mistakes, but I didn’t commit any crime,” Rousseff
said in front of a group of her supporters near the Planalto
presidential palace in capital Brasilia. “It’s the most brutal of
things that can happen to a human being – to be condemned for a
crime you didn’t commit. There is no more devastating injustice.”

Rousseff,
who was a Marxist guerilla during the country’s dictatorship in
1964-1985, said that “she never imagined that it would be necessary
to fight once again against a coup in this country.”

The
first female Brazilian head of state was notified of the suspension
on Thursday morning, shortly after the Senate voted 55-22 to put her
on trial as a result of a 20-hour-long session. The vote revealed
that the opposition already has the two-thirds majority required to
remove Rousseff from office definitively and even convict her.

The
68-year-old promised to use all legal means to defend herself during
the trial, which may well end with her impeachment. “What’s at
stake is respect for the ballot box, the sovereign will of the
Brazilian people and the constitution,” she stressed.

Rousseff
dismissed the majority of her cabinet, including the sports minister,
who was in the final stages of overseeing Brazil’s preparations for
the Rio Olympics in August. Over the course of the 6 month long
trial, the suspended leftist leader will be allowed to stay in the
Planalto palace and use the presidential plane.

Vice
President, Michel Temer, will execute the duties of head of state
over the next six months.

The
75-year-old already promised a series of austerity measures and the
reform of the pension system to help reduce Brazil’s vast budget
deficit.

Rousseff
suspension after five years as president marks the end of the
13-year-long rule of the leftist Workers Party. The party, which was
behind the country’s economic upswing, is leaving amid a corruption
scandal and deep recession in the country.

While
anti-Rousseff protesters celebrated and shot fireworks into the air
Brasilia and several other cities, following the news of the
president’s suspension, crowds of her supporters also took to the
streets to denounce the move.

“The
people don’t agree with the coup. Brazil is going through difficult
times. They want to overthrow the democratically elected President by
a majority of citizens, so we must continue to fight against this
illegal process,” one of the pro-Rousseff demonstrators told RT.

Brazilian
political scientist, Bruno Lima Rocha, said that he expects to see
the mobilization of both pro-and anti-Rousseff supporters.

“It’s
going to be the struggle of all the leftists against the regressive
laws, which will now be passed at an even greater pace by the
congress,” he said. He expects the public support of the new
government to “be weak,” adding that “the chance of Dilma’s
comeback is slim, but it still remains.”

The
situation in Brazil suggests that accusations of corruption are being
used as a pretext to initiate regime change and install yet another
pro-US government in Latin-America – something that has already
happened in Argentina, according to Adrian Salbuchi, political
analyst and RT columnist.

“The
Vice President of Brazil Michel Temer is very similar to Mauricio
Macri of Argentina. With the excuse of corruption they are pushing
aside a more populous governments replacing them with very
right-of-center pro-business, pro-banking, pro-American regimes of
governments like Macri in Argentina and now Mr Temer in Brazil and
that is very bad much as economically, financially and socially, or
even geopolitically,” he told RT. “It’s very bad for the world
because it is weakening the Latin American support that we could give
to the BRICS union which is a more global geopolitical

There
were no tears – at least not from Dilma Rousseff – as she left
the Planalto presidential palace after an impeachment defeat that
curtails 13 years of Workers’ party rule in Brazil and may well end
the political career of the country’s first female president.

Surrounded
by cabinet ministers and supporters, the former Marxist guerrilla
came close to choking at one point as she made a final statement
before being suspended from the highest office in Latin America’s
biggest country.

“I
may have committed mistakes, but I never committed crimes,” she
said. “It’s the most brutal thing that can happen to a human
being – being condemned for a crime you didn’t commit. No
injustice is more devastating.”

Although
many of her allies were red-eyed, Rousseff struck a defiant tone,
condemning the “treachery” of those who sabotaged her government,
accusing her replacement vice-president Michel Temer of setting up an
administration without a direct electoral mandate, and vowing to
fight on against what she called a “coup”.

Her
chances of survival, however, have diminished enormously as a result
of two crushing defeats in parliament. After a marathon 20-hour
overnight session on Wednesday and Thursday, the senate voted 55-22
to begin her impeachment trial. This followed a similarly huge loss
in congress last month.

Rousseff
will now go on trial in the upper house for up to six months on
charges of doctoring government accounts to make them look more
healthy ahead of her re-election in 2014. The final vote – which
requires a two-thirds majority of senators – could come as early as
September.

The
interim government will be led by Temer, who played a major role in
nudging his running mate aside. A constitutional lawyer from the
Brazilian Democratic Movement party, the 75-year-old has spent the
past few weeks putting together a new cabinet, which will represent a
rightward tack of the government.

Although
the new head of state has promised to maintain welfare programs such
as the cash handout scheme known as bolsa familia, his priority will
be to regain investor confidence by balancing the budget and getting
inflation back under 10%.

Underscoring
the conservative timbre of the new cabinet, all the ministers are
male and white. Some of them are controversial appointments.
Conservationists are alarmed that the top agriculture post has been
given to “soya bean king” Blairo Maggi, who has recently been
promoting a constitutional amendment to remove environmental
licensing on public projects.

Despite
the ongoing Zika epidemic, Temer has appointed a politician with no
medical background as the new health minister. The portfolio will be
taken by Ricardo Barros, a civil engineer by training from the
Progressive party, which is notorious for corruption. The health post
is much in demand as it has the biggest budget of any ministry. It is
frequently used as a political bargaining card. Barros is the fourth
health minister in little more than half a year.

In
a sign of his commitment to austerity, Temer has slashed the number
of cabinet posts from 31 to 22. But he may find it hard to cut other
costs ahead of municipal elections and with unemployment already in
double digits.

Whether
this tough task can be achieved will depend largely on new finance
minister Henrique Meirelles, who was widely praised as central bank
president under the first two Workers’ party governments. This
time, however, he is likely to be charged with reining in expenses
and encouraging other ministers to push ahead with privatisations,
outsourcing and weakening labour laws.

André
César, a political consultant, said Temer would take a new approach
to government, but the new president will not be able to enjoy a
honeymoon because he will have have to cut costs while keeping a
range of coalitions partners happy. He is also likely to face
protests on the streets from social movements.

“In
the very short term, turbulence will increase”, he said. “But If
he can manage to advance his agenda in the first couple of months,
then he can take a breath. The problem is coalition politics. There
are several parties and politicians with different world views.”

And
while the markets are likely to be happy, the public will need a lot
of convincing.

Temer’s
ratings are almost as low as those of the suspended president. He has
a disapproval rating of 62% and support from fewer than one in seven
voters, according to the most recent poll. He and his cabinet are
also tainted by corruption allegations. Temer faces an impeachment
challenge of his own, has been barred from standing for office for
eight years due to election violations, and has been named in two
plea bargains in the ongoing Lava Jato investigation into the
kick-back and bribery scandal at the state-run oil firm Petrobras.
Several members of his proposed cabinet, including Romero Jucá –
the new planning secretary – also face charges by Lava Jato
prosecutors.

By
contrast, Rousseff faces no corruption allegations, though she is
being forced to step aside while she is judged. Polls suggest she
will be missed by only a small minority, but several hundred came to
give her a warm send-off.

As
she walked from the palace to a waiting car, they chanted her name
and cursed her enemies. “Fora Temer” (Temer Out), they yelled.
“Fascists and Coup Mongers will not prevail.”

Many
were clothed in the red of the Workers’ party. A few wore the
feathered headdresses and body point of indigenous groups, who fear
the new government will accelerate the erosion of their territory.

“Dilma
wasn’t perfect, but at least she gave us a voice,” said Edinaldo
Arágun, a chief of the Tabajara people from Paraiba state. “The
new government will be much worse. They are criminals and thieves who
will take our land, as people have been doing for hundreds of years.”

The
majority appeared to be women from social movements. Edenilce Silva,
a teacher from Brasília, said she felt anger at those who voted for
impeachment and appreciation for the outgoing president and Workers
party.

“I’m
indignant that my vote has not been respected,” she said. “Dilma
was my choice. She fought against dictatorship and when she was
president she put more priority on the rights of black people and
women like me. More importantly, she improved society as a whole.
Living standards are better. There are more schools. More
opportunities to enter university.”